There is a 9A hearing this morning at Superior Court in Norwalk in the lawsuit brought by the Right Site Coalition (supported by the Echo Park Historical Society, of which I am a board member) against the Los Angeles Unified School District. I have mentioned it several times in Chicken Corner posts before. But, very briefly: Right Site wants to force the LAUSD to conduct an environmental impact review – as it should have done before forcing more than 200 people out of their homes to make way for an elementary school that neighborhood demographics do not support – i.e., the elementary schools that exist in the neighborhood already are shrinking, teachers are being transferred out, enrollment has dropped significantly. In essence, it seems that the school the LAUSD literally is trying to bulldoze through a byproduct of Roy Romer’s “mandate” to build build build build everywhere who cares where just build. Colorado man wanted “measurable” results. Careerists fell in line in a big hurry. In Echo Park they spent eight weeks picking a site and came up with one that was virtually all immigrants (and their children). When people in the neighborhood opposed the project, urging consideration of alternative sites, the LAUSD’s response was it was too late, they’d already done so much work. We’ll see what happens in court today.

In the meantime, the last holdouts have finally been bullied out of their homes. They took to heart the LAUSD’s threats that the longer they waited the less money they would receive for their home in the end. The “site” is known as “9A” – dehumanized in advance by the language that we have all used. The LAUSD named it, and opponents adopted it, ironically at first, then by habit. The words anticipate the razing of fifty-plus houses and (even more) apartments. We’re hoping they can be turned around. Fingers crossed.